Plastic Chemical Could Harm Babies

A chemical used to soften such plastic items as medical tubing and blood bags could harm young children, according to a Food and Drug Administration safety assessment released last week.

“We are being specific here, suggesting to clinicians and the users of these devices that they consider devices that are made of alternate materials” in treating some patients, particularly male infants, said Donald Marlowe, director of the FDA’s office of science and technology.

The chemical, called DEHP, can leach from the plastic into liquids and has been shown to harm experimental animals, including affecting the development of the testicles and the production of normal sperm in young animals.

As a result, the FDA launched a safety assessment to see whether the chemical would have the same effect on humans and to establish what it called a “tolerable intake” for DEHP.

In its report, the agency concluded that for most adult patients the amount of chemical absorbed is too small to be of concern.

But it said that newborns in intensive care could face exposure from multiple sources, such as intravenous administration of medicine, blood transfusions and even feeding tubes, which could result in exposure to between five and 20 times the tolerable dose. Alternate products that do not contain DEHP are available, though they cost more, Marlowe said.